BIO Rod Bengston is an arts administrator, curator, educator and an artist practicing painting and drawing. He joined UHM in August of 2012 after serving as director of The University of Akron Art Galleries system since 1992. He has curated dozens of exhibitions in contemporary art and many with historical themes, featuring artists such as Xu Bing, Jenny Holzer, Yoko Ono and James Siena. Bengston has also organized cross-disciplinary exhibitions, performances and events involving Polymer Science, Computer Science, Anthropology, History, English, Psychology, Archives, Libraries, Modern Languages, Biology, Music, Dance and Law. Bengston has taught courses in 2D studio foundations, arts administration and museum studies for over twenty years.

EDUCATION MFA – Kent State University BA – Allegheny College

RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS Co-curator of the Collider: New Media. The exhibition series examines the impact, implications and inspiration of the phenomenon generally categorized under the umbrella term New Media within the design practice and fine arts.

Curator of the CONVERGENCE exhibition series. CONVERGENCE: GLITCH_CLICK_THUNK, Featuring Mark Amerika (2013) was the inaugural presentation of a series of new media exhibitions/installations at the University of Hawai‘i Art Gallery. The series encompasses and explores the impact of internet art, digital, electronic, sound and a wide range of new, traditional, and hybrid technologies on communication and art. The first exhibition was an extended, interactive installation engages visitors and students in hands-on exchanges between letter-press, litho-process, current computer-imaging, and audio-articulating workshop areas within the gallery.